Rafael Nadal cried for two hours after withdrawing from 2018 Mexican Open, reveals Alejandro Burillo

Rafael Nadal cried for two hours after announcing his decision to withdraw from the 2018 Mexican Open, according to Alejandro Burillo.

Burillo is the owner and president of Grupo Pegaso, who are the major sponsors of the ongoing event in Acapulco. The 31-year-old was all but set to take the court at the ATP World Tour 500 series tournament after making a comeback from the injury he had suffered at the 2018 Australian Open.

Nadal was forced to retire from his quarter-final clash against Marin Cilic in the first Grand Slam of the year in January due to a hip problem. He spent over a month on the sidelines and was expected to return to the court at the Mexican Open, where he was scheduled to face his compatriot Feliciano Lopez on Tuesday, 27 February.

However, another setback saw Nadal announce his withdrawal from the ATP 500 event.

Burillo revealed the extent of the 10-time French Open winner's agony after a recurrence of an old injury.

"I talked to Nadal and he was crying in his villa for two hours. He could not play because of his injury, but he will recover to return in the following tournaments because the fans are looking for him," Burillo revealed, as quoted by Yahoo Sports.

Nadal's injury record has been a concern in recent times as the Spaniard has retired or pulled out of tournaments five consecutive times. Prior to the Mexican Open and Australian Open, he withdrew from the Paris Masters, ATP Finals in London and Brisbane International.

Roger Federer gained from Nadal's absences to take the top spot in the ATP rankings after winning the Rotterdam Open. The 36-year-old only needed to make it to the semi-final of the tournament to become the world number one, but the Swiss ace did even better by emerging victorious at the event for the third time in his career.

Nadal's chances of regaining the number one spot look quite tough at the moment after he was forced to pull out of the tournament in Acapulco. He revealed that doctors have advised him to stop playing for the time being in order to avoid "increasing the injury".

"Doctors have told me that it is impossible to play, regardless of whether it hurts. There is a significant risk of increasing the injury and I have no choice," Nadal said, as reported by the Express.